KABUL, Oct 13: The US and Afghanistan have reached an agreement in principle on the major elements of a deal that would allow American troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014.
US officials said the potentially deal-breaking issue of jurisdiction over those forces must still be resolved.
The officials traveling with US Secretary of State John Kerry said the deal negotiated with Afghan President Hamid Karzai meets all American conditions, including on the jurisdiction issue, and that all that remains is for Karzai to win political approval for it.
During the talks, Kerry made frequent phone calls back to Washington, speaking with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and national security adviser Susan Rice multiple times, the officials said.
The American contingent was hopeful that a national consultative assembly of tribal elders, or Loya Jirga, and the Afghan parliament would approve the agreement, the officials said. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the agreement by name.
Kerry spoke with Karzai after a marathon series of meetings and repeated delays of Kerry’s departure from Afghanistan. Both men later said agreement had been reached yesterday on a series of contentious sovereignty issues and the safety of Afghan citizens at the hands of American and allied troops that had deadlocked talks in the past year.
But Karzai said he would punt the issue of who has jurisdiction for any crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan after 2014 to the Loya Jirga that he has asked to be convened within a month. Their opinion on whether to approve or disapprove an American demand that its forces be remanded to US military courts would then be sent to the Afghan parliament.
Kerry responded that any decision made by the Loya Jirga and parliament would be respected, but he added that if the jurisdiction issue was not resolved there would be no agreement.
In Iraq, a similar deal fell apart after US officials were unable to reach an agreement with the Iraqis on the same issue that would have allowed a small training and counterterrorism force to remain there. The United States completely pulled out of Iraq after the deal collapsed.
The jurisdiction issue came to the fore after an American soldier, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, killed 16 people in two villages in southern Afghanistan last year. He was convicted in August by a military court and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of release.
Kerry began negotiations with Karzai yesterday morning, the second day of talks after he arrived late Friday. He left shortly after the last meeting, headed for Europe and the US. (AGENCIES)
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